Particle Physics and Astrophysics

Today's high-energy physics is the culmination of
twenty-five centuries of searching for an understanding of the
ultimate nature of matter. The University of Toronto has
one of Canada's most active groups in elementary particle
physics and relativity.
Over the last 20 years the standard model of
particle physics has gradually taken shape. With
the conclusion of the recent Z boson physics program at
CERN
the standard model has withstood tests of
unprecedented precision. Still, we know that this
model cannot be complete. Experimentalists
and theorists at the University of Toronto are
actively trying to find ways to move beyond
the current particle physics paradigm.

Ongoing experimental programs, in association with the
Canadian Institute of Particle Physics
(IPP),
include the
CDF
experiment at Fermilab, near Chicago, studying very high
energy proton-antiproton collisions, and the
ZEUS
experiment, at DESY, which studies high energy electron-proton
interactions. From 1999 onwards
experiments, such as these two at Fermilab and DESY, will be
the only experiments collecting
data at the high energy frontier
until the large hadron collider (LHC)
comes into operation at CERN in 2005.
The experimental group is also taking a leading role in the
ATLAS
experiment, which is constructing a general
purpose detector for the LHC that is being
built in Geneva, Switzerland. The main aim of this research is
to discover the Higgs Boson that is thought to give
particles their masses.
ZEUS and CDF provide a number of exciting
opportunities for graduate research at the M.Sc. and
Ph.D. level for Toronto students, with the
possibility of gaining essential instrumentation
and hardware on either upgrades to these experiments
or on our extensive ATLAS instrumentation effort.
More information on the opportunities for graduate
students in our groups can be found
here .

Members of the
theory
group have a wide range of
interests. Research areas include quark model
phenomenology, dynamical symmetry breaking and
gauge theories that include string theory and quantum gravity.
The astrophysics effort in the Department focuses on experiment and
observation, ranging from nuclear astrophysics performed at the TRIUMF
TISOL and ISAC facilities to observations of the cosmic microwave
background radiation using high altitude balloons. With members of
the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
(CITA),
the department's research effort is one of the strongest in North
America and provides a very attractive environment for graduate
research.